With the spreading of the art produced by various cultures across the boundaries of the regions in which the art is produced, a great demand has developed for reproductions of art works such as oil paintings, textiles, and wood carvings, as well as reproductions of natural articles such as insects, wood grain and other attractive objects. Some of the reproductions are desired for educational purposes as well as for decorative value. Up to now, it has been possible to reproduce items such as those listed by photographic processes which render color more or less faithfully, but it has not been possible to reproduce surface irregularities corresponding to brush strokes, crevices in the carapace of an insect, or low-relief carving in wood or other materials.
Some effort has been made to give the feeling of a more faithful reproduction of oil paintings, particularly, by the use of processes such as embossing of the paper. However, such processes have heretofore failed to reproduce brush strokes where relatively sharp angles are involved, this being particularly pertinent to modern works of art. Similarly, low-relief carving may also present the problem of sharp angles which cannot be satisfactorily reproduced by embossing since the substrate, whether of paper or of canvas is apt to tear in such regions.
In another process having the same objective of producing a three-dimensional appearance, it has been the practice to subject the eventual duplicate of an embossing process to spraying with a special resin powder and heating the sprayed substrate to cause the powder to adhere to the substrate. The surface is rough but, nevertheless, does not reproduce satisfactorily as the surface of the original. The principle reason for this is that the block used for embossment has been prepared through manual engraving. Alternatively, the block may be prepared by forming an electrotype in which recesses correspond to raised portions of the block. Plaster is put into the electrotype and hardened. The electrotype is then used as a male mold and the plaster molding as the female. Usually, a number of such female molds are produced and combined into sets for use. Another known technique is to form surface irregularities by pressing a photographic reproduction with a metal die having irregularities in registry with the printed pattern. By this method, a prototype is pressed against a combination of a metal plate or the like and a rubber cloth to make a form. Then, patterns are formed in conformity with the irregular surface of the rubber cloth. In the next step, the metal plate or the like is separated leaving a flat surface. Then the patterns are printed on the metal plate or the like and finally the prototype is pressed against the back side so as to form the pattern and surface irregularities simultaneously.
Despite the effort expended thus far, it has been difficult to reproduce fine irregularities representing brush strokes and knife cuts so that the articles produced by such processes are immediately recognizable as immitations. Consequently, a process for replication of art works and the like in which both color and surface irregularities are faithfully reproduced has long been desired. In our copending application as identified above, we have presented a process for replication of such art works and the like in which both color and surface irregularities are faithfully reproduced. The process of the copending application, however, is limited to reproduction on essentially the same scale as the original. Where the original may be either too small or too large with regard to the desired reproduction, the process as presented in the present application overcomes this difficulty. Furthermore, when the item to be reproduced is fragile, either chemically or mechanically, the process of the present application can be utilized.
A further difficulty encountered with conventional processes is that a press is required for forming the surface irregularities, generally heating being required with pressure, so that this method cannot be practised in a conventional print shop where this kind of equipment is generally not available.